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Jian Shi was extremely nervous, but he was determined to make their day an unforgettable thing. Something special. A happy day for Yu-er, no matter what.
He checked himself in the mirror before leaving the house, trying to get his hair to behave for once (impossible) and then patted over his pants to make sure he had all his things with him. Phone? There, fully charged. Keys? Right where they should. Wallet? Also accounted for, and holding the money he had saved for this, so he hoped to not have to worry. Backpack? Also ready, with some stuff he carried to make sure Yu-er would be comfortable if he forgot any of his own things, which he tended to do when he was anxious, and Jian Shi suspected it would be the case that day. Or he hoped so, at least. He hoped that Yin Yu was feeling the same butterflies he felt.
Okay, he was ready. Or as ready as he ever would be.
He walked to his bicycle, and started pedaling, trying to focus on the road instead of fantasizing about what was coming later that day.
They had decided to meet near the night market; Jian Shi had offered to go get Yin Yu (“it would be no issue for me, Yu-er!”) but Yin Yu said he had to something else right before, so it would be easier to meet there instead.
Jian Shi parked his bike, needing a bit of extra time with the lock, since his hands were slightly trembling. He still had time (of course he got there earlier than their meeting time, he was a gentleman, thank you very much), so he tried to calm down and ignore the way his hands were sweating.
He stood in their meeting spot, and had to wait less than five minutes for Yin Yu’s arrival.
Jian Shi couldn’t help but grin, looking at him across the street, waiting to cross. Yin Yu waved shyly, and nervously put a lock of hair behind his ear. He was wearing his hair in a half–pony that day, which made him look extra cute, in Jian Shi’s personal opinion.
“Hey,” Jian Shi said, extremely eloquent, as soon as he had Yin Yu in front of him.
“Hey,” Yin Yu replied, with a big smile. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Let’s walk around the park first?” Jian Shi proposed. “Then we can get something to eat at the night market, after it opens in full.”
“Sure.”
The park was quite nice at that time of the year, when autumn was barely starting and the leaves were changing their colors and starting to fall. Their steps made pleasant crunchy sounds from time to time, when they walked over an area covered in dead leaves, and Yin Yu seemed to enjoy that deeply, making sure to step over each and every dry leaf he could.
“How did your day go?” Jian Shi asked, after a while of just sharing a comfortable silence, only interrupted with their comments about the leaves. “You had a doctor’s appointment, right?”
“Oh, yeah!” Yin Yu said, “I wasn’t sure if you would want to know the… details.”
“Of course I want to!” Jian Shi wasn’t exactly surprised that Yin Yu would say something like that, but it was still a bit sad. “I always want to know about the things you want to say.”
Yin Yu blushed a bit. “I got my first injection today,” he explained, without looking at Jian Shi’s eyes, “so, now I know how to do that myself.”
“Was it painful?” Jian Shi stopped walking, which forced Yin Yu to stop walking too and look at him, with a bit of confusion. “If you’re in pain, we can do this on a different day! I’m sorry, I–”
“A-Shi, don’t be silly. It wasn’t a huge scary needle, I can walk normally, you dumbass,” Yin Yu rolled his eyes, and started walking again, but couldn’t hide the smile in his lips.
“So it wasn’t that painful?” Jian Shi was still a bit worried. “Or are you just acting all tough just to impress me?” he joked, just to annoy Yin Yu.
“When have I ever needed to try to impress you?” Yin Yu said, looking at Jian Shi with defiance. It was true, though, Jian Shi was absolutely smitten since forever and had always followed him around like a lost puppy.
Jian Shi wanted so badly to kiss Yin Yu, but he had to be patient. That was not the right time! So he just laughed instead, shaking his head in defeat.
Yin Yu decided it was time for them to sit, in a bench that overlooked the park’s pond. It was a nice location, and unusually empty for the hour. The trees around were already turning into a bright red, the very picture of autumn.
It was kinda their bench, since they always ended up sitting there, whenever they went for a walk together around the park.
“I’ll need to get weekly injections from now on, but the changes won’t happen that fast, so I’ll have to be patient,” Yin Yu explained, a bit frustrated. He was looking upwards, to the last dredges of light that filtered through the trees as dusk started to fall.
“But you finally started,” Jian Shi said, “and that deserves a celebration, I think.” Jian Shi rummaged inside his backpack, looking for something he wanted to give to Yin Yu later that night, but now was just as good. “I… have a gift for you.”
“A gift?” Yin Yu looked at him, both surprised and excited. “Damn, I didn’t think of that,” he panicked next, but Jian Shi cut him off.
“This is just me being extra,” Jian Shi said, “don’t worry, I wasn’t expecting you to have something for me. That’s not required, Yu-er, don’t worry.” Better to make sure that Yin Yu didn’t feel guilty. “Anyways. Here.”
It was a small metal box.
“Oh, this looks so cool!” Yin Yu said, taking it from Jian Shi’s hands and examining it carefully before opening it. There was a ring inside, sitting in some soft, foam-like material. “A ring?”
“It’s not a common one,” Jian Shi said, inwardly praying that he wasn’t as red as he felt, because oh boy, he could tell his cheeks were absolutely burning. “You can play with it, you’ll see right away.”
Yin Yu took the ring out of the box, and instantly knew what Jian Shi meant. It was a very stylish ring, made of black colored metal with silver accents that looked like little moons; the ring was actually composed of more than one piece, so the external ring would rotate around the inner portion, sliding comfortably in a way that was very pleasant.
“Oh, this is really cool,” Yin Yu said, immediately wearing the ring. “And it looks amazing!”
he added, looking at his hand, extended in front of him.
“I knew you would like it,” Jian Shi said, knowing how much Yin Yu needed to have something in his hands to play with, or he most likely would end up damaging his nails or his skin. “And maybe… maybe you’ll think of me when you’re playing with it?”
“As if I needed anything external to make my brain think of you all the time,” Yin Yu said, without thinking it through.
They both looked at each other, furiously blushing, Yin Yu with an expression that made it clear that he had surprised himself with his own words, and Jian Shi barely believing what he just heard.
“Can I kiss you, Yu-er?” Jian Shi said, his last gentlemanly braincell screaming before his brain completely shut down from the intensity of his emotions.
Yin Yu moved to closed the distance between them instead of using his words.
It was a clumsy, quite inexperienced kiss, but Jian Shi just thought that they would have plenty of time in the future to get better at it. He couldn’t wait for that, in fact, and that idea made him smile into their kiss.
“What’s so funny?” Yin Yu asked, when they separated, a hint of irritation in his voice.
“I’m just happy,” Jian Shi said, caressing his cheek, his thumb tracing over the small beauty mark that adorned it. “I had wanted to do that for a while, and now I can’t wait to do it a–”
He didn’t need to wait, since Yin Yu kissed him again, this time smiling too.
“I’ll have to get you a ring too, right?” Yin Yu said, as he stood up again and took Jian Shi’s hand, so they could walk to the market. “That way we will match.”
“That would be nice, yes.”
The night market was as noisy and overwhelming as ever, but Yin Yu was carrying his noise cancelling buds with him, and said that he didn’t want to leave without at least getting some tanghua. So they walked around with their pinkies linked, looking for some treats to buy. In the end, Jian Shi got Yin Yu a dragon–shaped tanghua (“Come on, it feels adequate for a celebration! Just take it, Yu-er!”) and some latiao for himself, (“I’m not surprised at all. If you don’t have some spicy treat you would die from the abstinence, probably.”)
After a while, though, Jian Shi noticed that Yin Yu seemed to be uncomfortable.
“Is something wrong, Yu-er?” he inquired, a bit worried. “We can go back home, if you want.”
“Ah, it’s just…” Yin Yu seemed to be embarrassed about something, which meant it had to do with that topic that he always tried to avoid. Jian Shi had been supportive from the start, but that didn’t mean Yin Yu truly felt safe to openly talk about it yet. “I’m, uh,” his voice had turned much, much smaller, “wearing a binder today, but…”
“You always wear that thing for too long,” Jian Shi said, immediately taking Yin Yu’s hand so they could get to a public restroom. “Let’s go so you can take it off,” he kept going, dragging Yin Yu along with him. “You shouldn’t wear it for that long!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll do it. I will have to– oh, no, fuck.” Yin Yu stopped walking to check his things, and after rummaging inside his bag, he just let out another, very annoyed, ”fuck.”
“Hm? What happened?”
“I think I forgot my hoodie at the doctor’s office,” Yin Yu said. “Either that or I lost it on the way here,” he got increasingly annoyed. “I’m not taking it off if I don’t have my hoodie with me!” He was only wearing a t-shirt, since the weather that day had been so nice, so…
“Pffft, you can take mine,” Jian Shi offered immediately, “now let’s go.”
“But you will get cold!”
“I won’t. Come on,” Jian Shi gestured for Yin Yu to follow him, in the direction of the public restrooms.
Jian Shi definitely got cold on their way back, of course, but he couldn’t care less.
All he cared about was making sure that his Yu-er was comfortable and that no one said anything weird that ruined their day. So Jian Shi followed him to the restrooms to make sure he was safe, just in case any idiots tried something (would not be the first time, sadly), and gave him the hoodie he had in his backpack. It was a really comfortable one, soft to the touch and that would look oversized on Yin Yu, so it was perfect for this.
Their way back home was silent, with Jian Shi concentrating on pedaling, while Yin Yu grabbed his shoulders to keep his balance, standing on the bicycle's foot pegs (that Jian Shi had specifically installed so they could ride together like this).
At least the physical effort was enough to keep Jian Shi from feeling too cold, and it was not a long way back either. Ah, Jian Shi would have liked for it to be longer, or for their date to last for longer. But it was late anyway, and he truly wanted Yin Yu to feel better, which would probably not happen until he was back home and feeling safe.
“Thank you, A-Shi,” Yin Yu said, still feeling a bit guilty. They were standing in front of the bicycle racks at their apartment building, after Jian Shi locked his. “You’re the best,” he mumbled, as he started trying to take off Jian Shi’s hoodie, to give it back.
“No, no, keep it, don’t worry,” Jian Shi said, forcing Yin Yu’s arms down. “You can give it back later. Or never, if you like it too much.” He didn’t want Yin Yu to be exposed, not even in the elevator ride where it would only be the two of them.
“I’d rather keep its owner,” Yin Yu said, feeling a bit more adventurous. “It comes with the hoodie for free, right?”
“And with many other things,” Jian Shi said, smiling big. He was so fucking gone for this man! “So many benefits for you, if you keep the owner.”
They laughed for a bit, looking at each other with disgustingly sweet eyes.
“Sorry for the inconveniences,” Yin Yu said after a while, fiddling with the ring Jian Shi gave him earlier. “It must be weird for you. To deal with… that stuff.”
“I just want you to be comfortable,” Jian Shi said, this time taking Yin Yu’s hands. “I don’t care about anything else. I told you before, remember? I’m in love with you. Not with your body. I love you no matter what, Yu-er.”
Yin Yu doubted for a second, and then went for a hug, allowing Jian Shi to squeeze him, even if he wasn’t wearing his binder and felt so insecure about it. But it was Jian Shi, so he shouldn’t have to fear.
“Thank you for everything,” Yin Yu mumbled, face buried against Jian Shi’s chest. He smelled so nice. Like something fresh, with a hint of comforting spice. Hm, maybe it was all the spicy stuff he always ate. “I will get you a nice ring too, A-Shi.”
They stayed like that for a while, until Yin Yu yawned, which signaled that it was late enough and that they should go back. And when they said their goodbyes for the night, Jian Shi kissed Yin Yu’s forehead before exiting the elevator, and walked to his family’s apartment thinking that, one day, he hoped to give Yin Yu a really, really nice ring.
The idea made him smile so much that he went to sleep with a big grin.